Junya turns 40 months today and Sakura is 17 months old. And it’s been almost two weeks I haven’t updated, that’s quite a record.

Last week I started sending Sakura to school together with her oniichan, and I thought that would be the end of my mommy jail time, (and that I would have time to update my blog EVERY TWO DAYS!!!). Erm… apparently it was quite the opposite.

I got so unbelievably exhausted with all the school-prepping, school visits, at the same time down with a bad flu.

But I have never missed a single monthly update before, this is the 40th, so here it goes!

He has grown 100cm tall now! This is the height chart inside UNIQLO. Haha.

First rainy day

Ok so. The school is about a 10-minutes-walk away from our apartment, usually I will walk them to school, go back home, then walk to pick them up, then walk together back home again. I take it as my daily exercise haha.

When it occasionally rains, I use the taxi because it is just too impractical to be pushing a stroller and watching out for a 3-year-old who doesn’t completely understand traffic rules yet, in heavy rain. That’s also fine with me.

BUUUUUUT. About a two weeks ago it started raining every. freaking. day. And the Grab Taxi fare is, guess what? For a short 10mins walking distance on a rainy day – usually between 9-14 dollars WHAT THE HELL??? We can’t use Grab Car because I have two young kids. So my only option is taxi. Grab Family don’t even say. Even more expensive.

If it rains the whole day, I have to spend average $40 to and fro (twice) just to send and pick up?? Ridiculous ok. No thanks.

So yes, rain coat, rain boots and brellas to the rescue. Heng it’s usually not super heavy rain so it wasn’t too bad.

Fragile little heart

He has always been a very sensitive little man. Although he doesn’t always show it. Maybe he was trying to appear strong, but inside him has this very fragile little heart.

On Sakura’s second day of school, his class was having some activity in the common area so he got to meet his sister for the first time. We talked a little and he seemed happy.

And then we said good bye because I had to accompany Sakura back to her class and Junya had to go back to his own class room.

After school, his teacher sent me a video of him sobbing over lunch. I think this was the first time he cried in class.

The teacher asked him what happened, and he said “mama is not here.”

Then I remembered how he kept asking me earlier, “mama can you come to my classroom?” but I told him I couldn’t. He was very upset and couldn’t understand why I went to Sakura’s class but not his…

My heart..😭😭😭

After that I explained to him, and the next day I picked him up early so that we could all go to Sakura’s class to bring her home. He seemed very happy with this solution.

Because I am baby right?

Nowadays, whenever someone asks him how old he is, he always answers “one”. Then if someone corrects him and tells him he is older, he argues, “No, I am one year old. I am a baby.”

And he is serious about it.

I guess most elder siblings go through this at some point. Lucky you if your child did not. He is serious to want to be a baby again. I mean, who wouldn’t, think of all the perks being a baby!! In Japanese they call it “Akachangaeri” – becoming baby again.

It is so much easier and so much harder at the same time, now that she can clearly let me know what she wants and doesn’t want to do.

Easier – I no longer have to guess why she is upset or cranky. I just need to ask, and she will give her clear answer, by saying “nu” (no) and “yeh” (yes), or shaking and nodding her head. (I looooooove to see her nod. It’s really the cutest thing ever! She’ll be crying out loud and then I’l ask her “do you want a snack?” then she will stop crying and nod passionately. It’s just… 😍😍😍)

Harder – Now that she knows the power of “nu”, she sometimes just “nu” me all the way. Sometimes just for fun. Sometimes testing water. Sometimes just… emo.

Piiiii and Tatu

She also knows Piiii and Tatu now!!

Mama: Sakura do you want a snack?

Sakura: *nods*

Mama: What do you say?

Sakura: Piiiiiiiiiiiiii~.

Mama: Here you go. What do you say?

Sakura: Tatu.

Doh, doh, doh, dohhhhh~!!!!

I think she picked this up from me (bad pun, wait for it).

So every time she drops her food, I’ll tell her “oh you drop it! Let me pick it up.” So now every single time her food falls over her bowl onto the floor, she will go “doh, doh dohhhhhh!”, until I pick it up. Which was fine, I mean, good table manners and all that.

BUT.

She started doing it when we eat out. Random bits of food crumbs on the floor left by the previous patrons, “doh, doh dohhhhh!” So the whole time I was just busy volunteering to clean up for the entire restaurant. 🙄🙄🙄

I suspect she is a clean freak. She doesn’t like to make a mess with food and if her fingers are stained, she demands “wai wai!!” (wipe wipe). And every now and then she will pass me imaginary dust to throw away. 🙄🙄🙄

Poo Poo

She can now tell me “poo poo” before she does it. But I have yet to succeed with having her do it on the toilet bowl. I’ll quickly carry her to the bathroom when she tells me “poo poo”, and then she will do the fake straining poo poo face (lol), but never really does it. But I have a feeling she will be soooo much easier to toilet train than her oniichan.

Appetite

Ok she eats much, much better now, but there’s a problem. When it comes to soup/milk/juice, she will insist to hold the bowl/cup herself. When I try to assist her with it, she will complain and try to swing the bowl/cup away with full force and I’ll be like omgomgomgnonononono because it. always. spills.🙄🙄🙄

So I gave up and just let her hold her miso soup, milk in cup, yakult, food with gravy… and then just change her after. My laundry piles nowadays is no joke🙄

First days of school

So Sakura had her school debut at 16 months. My initial plan was to send her after 18 months to toddler class, actually as late as possible because IMAGINE THE MONEY I CAN SAVE ON CHILDCARE… But I guess I am running out of fuel… and money can be earned back if I have more time to do my work.

I sent her in September into infant class and accompanied her for 3 days to slowly help her transition to new environment. There was two things about the school that really surprised me.

First, upon entering the infant class, I was appalled to see that every. single. baby’s nose was like a waterfall. E-I-E-I-O. With a sniff sniff here and a sniff sniff there, here a sniff there a sniff everywhere a sniff sniff.

One toddler girl sneezed a her bi ti + sticky yellow bisai was all over her mouth and chin. T___T. The teachers were busy so I had to wipe it for her lol.

At that point, I resigned to the fact that the moment you allow your kids into childcare center, you just have to dig out those medical cards on standby.

I loaded both cheesiepetits up with vitamins and immune boosters right away when we got back home, they were fine, but guess what…

I was the one who caught the bugs. Badly.

The second thing was… well it wasn’t the first time I knew about this (I blogged about it here before), but I really still could barely contain my shock.

This was breakfast. For toddler.

I mean… Ok I think it is a great school, but this, no matter from which angle I try to see it, is a snack at best. Not breakfast. No way. Honestly most mothers (Malaysian/Singaporean/Japanese) I showed this to had a shock, so I really don’t know how this became a widely acceptable food as the first meal of the day for toddler across the whole country.

Obviously I’m not in a position to complain about this since this seems to be the norm, so I just had to do the same as I did with Junya – wake them extra early, feed them proper breakfast before sending them to school.

Other than that I am quite happy with how she is adjusting to her school life.

On the fourth day, I wasn’t allowed to stay anymore, so I sat her down with some toys, told her goodbye, kissed her on the cheeks and left swiftly. She seemed so distracted with the toys that she didn’t even respond to me.

So I didn’t leave her in a sobby mode and it made a whole world of difference! The teachers told me that she was fine the entire day, and only cried when she was tired during nap time.

I was so so so so surprised. With Junya it took waaaaaaaay more effort.

First art and craft.

Something I will never everrrr do with her at home. 自己拿苦来辛 just… no thanks.😅

Second day papa dropped by for a quick stay.

Lunch time.

Baby, please enjoy school time (and make mess if you must lolol). Mama still love you very very very much even if the hours we spend together will be lesser now. Be kind to your teachers, be kind to your friends. Be brave and just know that at the end of the day, mama will always always appear at the door to bring you home. ❤︎

For Mama

Mini Holiday

We went to Bali for a short break in September.

We travel so often that I’m wishing there’s a preschool that would charge according to the days we attend. This trip was also the reason why I delayed sending Sakura in any earlier. Because a few days away is like a few hundred dollars wasted for preschool!!!

God-size bed

So. Just when I thought they could finally sleep in their own room, we have moved them back in to our room. ALTOGETHER. The reason is… they want to sleep with us all the time anyway. And I’m done waking up groggily in the middle of the night to walk over to the kids room and pick up a crying toddler back to my own bed to nurse her. What’s the point -_-.

Yeap.

Even so, Junya will insist to sleep next to me. So we would start off by sleeping all on the big bed, all 4 of us. Then I move one by one over to their own bed after they fall asleep. -_-

As for their own room, I have turned it into a toy room where I can just throw the both of them in when I need to do some cooking or housework.

Worm Out Glue

This month, I tasted the fruits of my labor (no pun intended. It’d be too weird). The whole three years of being a full time parent for the kids.

But this month. I can be myself. I get a few hours a day to be myself. To watch any TV shows I like without being asked to switch to Shimajiro and Anpanman. To eat super spicy food to make up for all the mild-tasting food I usually cook. To lie down on the bed without having small little human creatures climb all over me. To blog this post, at one go, uninterrupted. (You’re welcome.)

Hi cheesie, you can try downloading the comfortdelgro app! You can book taxis through the app at a flat fare, which means no surge pricing on rainy days (which may be why the grab taxis were so expensive)

Hi Cheesie, here’s a correction! Having a slice of pandan cake or biscuits as the first meal of the day is NOT the norm in Singapore. The preschool you have sent your child to, obviously has this practice without considering the nutritional requirements of the child. I’m not sure about the rest of the menu though, but when we follow HPB guidelines and have our meals planned by a nutritionist, wholegrains would have been included, as with other healthier choices. I was honestly astounded by what your children are having in their school.